1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to human computer interaction (HCI) such as computer vision, pattern recognition, and gesture recognition, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for easily controlling a user interface (UI) of an electronic device by using a virtual plane.
2. Description of the Related Art
Remote controls have been conventionally used to control electronic devices such as television sets (TVs). Remote controls facilitate control of the electronic devices. However, as electronic devices have become more complex than before, the number of buttons of the remote controls has consequently increased in order to control the electronic devices. Today, a TV remote control has about 20 buttons. Thus, it is not easy to remember all the functions assigned to the respective buttons. Moreover, with the increase in functions of desktop video (DTV), a controller for controlling these functions requires more space.
In order to solve this problem, several methods have been proposed to control an electronic device in an easy and convenient manner by detecting the motion of a user without having to use a separate controller. The methods include a method in which one image capture device is attached to a TV so as to classify pixels of images received from the image capture device. However, in this method, a user has to be within a specific region that is not far from a fixed light beam, thus enabling the reception of a user input. That is, there is a problem in that a radius of action of the user is restricted. Furthermore, in this method, since a user's hand is detected according to skin color, the detection cannot be properly made when illumination around the user changes. Furthermore, since different actions of the user are assigned to operations of the electronic device, the user has to remember a lot of actions, which is inconvenient. Alternatively, there is a method in which a fingertip is detected by a plurality of image capture devices so that the electronic device can be controlled according to a three-dimensional position of the detected fingertip. However, this method still causes inconvenience in terms of installing the image capture devices since three image capture devices have to be installed at a fixed location such as on the wall or ceiling. Moreover, there has been a difficulty in controlling screen icons because even an insignificant motion of a finger results in a large motion on a screen of the electronic device. In addition, there is another disadvantage in that the electronic device can only be used in a fixed location.